Where NamHan & BukHan rivers meet..

Every adventure, is a story, flowing from the introduction of the main character, to the climax and finally, to the end. "Why is it important?", you may wonder. It is because every adventure you take on makes you a story teller. So, this is the tale of how I discovered the place where NamHan (South Han) and BukHan (North Han) rivers meet. Unlike other stories, I will show how the ending looked like first.

As you can see, golden rays of setting sun, Seoul skyline with LOTTE tower in the background and Han river flowing around the city is a picture that you would definitely want to have on your Instagram right?

And, if I told you that this place is just 1 hour subway ride away from the heart of Seoul ( Seoul station- let's argue where the heart of Seoul is later 😉) and that it needs just 1 hour of easy to moderate climbing, you would go there, wouldn't you?

If you are quite a bit adventurous as I am, I am pretty sure you will!!!!

The story starts at Yongsan station (Near Seoul station) and me getting into subway line Gyeongi-Chungan headed to Yongmun around 2 PM. This subway in not frequent and so, planning the round trip in the evening is a bit crucial. Anyhow, I took the train for nearly 1 hour to reach the station from where I started the ascend, Paldang. Paldang station is located in Namyangju city in Gyeongi province. As it is a bit far from Seoul it is not crowded at all, making it ideal during this Covid-feared time. As soon as I exited the station, there was a map showing all the trails and the time needed to complete each trail when hiking Yebongsan mountain.

After going through the map and estimating the time to climb up and down before it is too dark, I decided to take trail number 1 when climbing up and trail number 2 to climb down because both of those trails take me near Paldang station.

From Paldang station to the entrance of hiking trail, I had to walk about 10 minutes which was easy to find because it is marked at every turn. So, I started the hike solo with 1 L of water and few protein bars and I kept following the trail. The trail was clearly visible and I had no hard time finding my way to the peak of the mountain. Along the way there were several places to sit which was really useful because some sections of the hike were quite steep. I managed to reach the peak of the mountain in about one and a half hours.

I wanted to rest but, as soon as I saw the view in front of me, my tiredness disappeared without a trace. I was blessed with a clear sky devoid of any micro dust pollution and mist so that I could see the entire city in vivid detail. I tried clicking some snaps using my Sony Alpha, and I hope you could see in clear detail the landmarks of Seoul such as LOTTE tower, N-Seoul tower and Han river in the images below.

Now you must be wondering why this article is titled " Where NamHan & BukHan river meets" right? Let me catch my breath first. Story telling is not that easy 😝. The view opposite to what I you already saw in the previous pictures is where you can see NamHan and BukHan river meets. NamHan originating from Daedeok mountain in South Korea and BukHan originating from North Korea joins together at this place to form the Han river of South Korea. In Korean this place is called as "Thumulmeori"; where two waters meet. Lets have a look at Thumulmeori shall we?

Facing that direction, I found the height stone with which I took my mandatory photo after waiting for ages for someone to come so that I could ask them to take a photo of me. The korean Ajjoshi did a good job with the picture, didn't he? Thank you random ajjoshi!!

The view towards the left side from Thumulnori (towards North Korea) was full of mountains and an isolated town.

As much as I wanted to stay at the top, enjoying the view and the breeze it was getting dark (around 6 PM) so, I started my descent and on my way back, I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets in Korea. Though the photos don't do justice to the real majesty of that sunset here are some clicks that I managed to snap before it was covered by trees.

I managed to reach Paldang station by 7.30 PM and I took the train back to Yongsan station. I was tired after the hike but, my heart was filled joy of discovering a new place.

Until our next adventure.....

Janith...